“Fun and carefree like my polka dot bowtie”: Disidentifications of trans*masculine students of color

Abstract

Men and masculinities studies in higher education, as well as emergent scholarship on the experiences of trans* college students, have been expanding in recent years. Both strands have significant gaps that in combination reify the gender binary, hegemonic masculinity, and singular non-intersectional narratives that leave transmasculine students of color largely absent from our literature and our consciousness as higher education scholars and practitioners. A phenomenological study investigated how transmasculine college students understand, define and adopt a masculine identity, and how their various and salient intersecting identities inform their masculinities. Out of 19 total participants in the study, 11 identified as transmasculine people of color. This chapter highlights their stories and experiences of resilience, resistance, and reconstructions of racialized (trans)masculinities.